With the rapid development and the expanded applications of many products from high-tech industries, such as computer and information industries, the currently available computer devices now have constantly increasing data processing speed. Presently, the electronic elements for use in computer devices are gradually miniaturized, and more integrated circuits (ICs) can be provided within one unit area than before. As a result, the heat produced by the internal electronic elements per unit area also increased. The large quantity of heat produced by the electronic elements must be timely removed from the computer devices to avoid damaged electronic elements and failed computer devices.
To lower the working temperature of the heat-producing electronic elements, a water-cooling device has been introduced into the market. The water-cooling device includes a water-cooling radiator, which is connected to a pump and a water block via two tubes. The pump drives a water-cooling liquid, or a working fluid, to flow to the water-cooling radiator, so that heat carried by the water-cooling liquid is transferred to and dissipated from the water-cooling radiator into ambient environment. The pump drives the water-cooling liquid to continuously circulate between the water-cooling radiator and the water block to enable quick removal of heat from the heat-producing electronic elements. FIG. 19 shows a conventional water-cooling radiator 4, which is mainly assembled from three independent parts, namely, a plurality of serpentine radiating fins 41, a plurality of flat pipes 42 and two side water tanks 43. The serpentine radiating fins 41 are arranged between any two adjacent flat pipes 42 and are connected at outer sides of all turning points thereof to outer surfaces of corresponding flat pipes 42 by way of soldering to form a subassembly. Therefore, the flat pipes 42 are in only point contact with the serpentine radiating fines 41. The two side water tanks 43 are also soldered to two opposite sides of the subassembly of the radiating fins 41 and the flat pipes 42, so that the two side water tanks 43 are connected to the radiating fins 41 and the flat pipes 42 to form the water-cooling radiator 4. One of the two side water tanks 43 is provided with a water inlet 431 while the other side water tank 43 is provided with a water outlet 432. The above mentioned two tubes (not shown) are respectively connected at one end to the water inlet 431 and the water outlet 432 on the water-cooling radiator 4.
The conventional water-cooling radiator 4 achieves the heat-dissipation effect because the heat carried by the working fluid flowing through the flat pipes 42 is transferred to the radiating fins 41, from where the heat is radiated into ambient environment. However, the conventional water-cooling radiator 4 has a problem of poor efficiency of heat transfer from the working fluid to the radiating fins 41. This is because the radiating fins 41 and the flat tubes 42 are two independent parts. While the radiating fins 41 are connected to the flat pipes 42 by soldering, the radiating fins 41 are not an integral part of the flat pipes 42. Therefore, thermal resistance occurs when the heat carried by the working fluid is transferred from the flat pipes 42 to the radiating fins 41 to cause lowered heat transfer efficiency, which in turn results in lowered cooling performance or lowered heat exchange efficiency of the whole water-cooling radiator 4. Further, since the serpentine radiating fins 41 are soldered at the outer sides of the turning points thereof to the outer surfaces of the flat pipes 42, the radiating fins 41 respectively have a structurally relatively weak middle section 411, which tends to become damaged or deformed when being subjected to an external force. Further, the effect of heat transfer from the flat pipes 42 to the radiating fins 41 is also relatively poor.
Moreover, since the conventional water-cooling radiator 4 is assembled from three independent parts, it involves complicated assembling processes that require considerably high time and labor cost.